2 days ago
Air India plane crash: Days after performing wife's last rites, man boards tragic flight
Air India crash: London-based Arjun Patolia boarded the Air India flight that tragically crashed on Thursday, days after performing the last rites of his wife in Gujarat. He was heading to meet his two young daughters, according to a report by the Daily Mail.
Patolia visited the Amreli district of Gujarat to fulfil his wife, Bharatiben's, last wish, who passed away a week earlier. Bharatiben's final wish was to immerse her ashes in her village. Patiolia travelled to Gujarat to perform the last rites along with his extended family.
A few days after the final rites, Patiola boarded Air India flight AI-171, expecting to return to his daughters, aged four and eight. Unfortunately, the flight crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday, 12 June 2025.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, carrying 242 people, crashed in Ahmedabad's Meghani Nagar area near Sardar Vallabhai Patel International Airport at around 1:40 pm.
In a post on the social media platform X, Air India wrote, 'The aircraft crashed shortly after take-off. We regret to inform that, of the 242 aboard, there are 241 confirmed fatalities. The sole survivor is being treated in a hospital.'
The airline further informed, 'The passengers comprised 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals and 1 Canadian national. The survivor is a British national of Indian origin.'
Patiola's story is one among the several heartbreaking accounts that emerged after the tragic plane crash. Among the several stories shared, one was of Pratik Joshi, his wife, Kaumi Vyas, who shared a smiling selfie with their three young children on the Air India flight AI-171, just minutes before takeoff, ANI reported.
Kaumi Vyas worked as a physician at Pacific Hospital in Udaipur. She shared a photo on social media of the family aboard a plane, with the couple smiling as their three children sat behind them, facing the camera.
Joshi had lived in London for six years. His wife, Kaumi, resigned just two days prior to the trip to join the family abroad.
